15 Twitter Users Shaping the Future of Publishing

A lively ongoing conversation is taking place on Twitter about where the publishing industry is headed. With digital media overshadowing its legacy media counterpart, publishers are struggling to figure out pricing, digital rights issues and how to market digital content. These are similar to the struggles the music industry has faced over the past few years.

Here are 15 Twitter users I turn to for news and insight about how old school publishing is meeting its digital future. By following these publishing innovators, you can follow — and even participate in — the industry's conversations as they take place in real-time.

Name: Michael HyattWho: CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and a prolific blogger who covers the intersection of traditional publishing and social media. Why: Hyatt is a unique voice as one of the few publishing CEOs who practices what he preaches by blogging prolifically and doing social media outreach via Twitter and Facebook.

Name: Kevin SmoklerWho: Founder and CEO (his partner is Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine) of BookTour.com, a directory of authors chronicling their live and virtual appearances. Why: Smokler’s site has attracted enough interest to garner $350,000 from Amazon, making it a rare well-funded publishing-centric startup. He often carries on Twitter conversations with followers about books and the publishing industry.

Name: Nathan BransfordWho: Literary agent with Curtis Brown, he writes a popular blog and tackles tough subjects such as: “Will writers of the future even need publishers?” Why: Bransford may be the most popular literary agent on Twitter for his straight-up personable advice about where book publishing is headed.

Name: Chris WebbWho: Publisher, John Wiley and Sons UK.Why: Webb covers the intersection of tech and book publishing from a publishing geek perspective. His tweets give followers an insider's look into the evolving world of publishing.

Name: Garrett KielyWho: Director of the University of Chicago Press.Why: Kiely closely follows and opines on digital books, copyright issues and the latest ebook developments. His unique perspective as the director of a university press offers an interesting take on the changing publishing landscape.

Name: Tim O’ReillyWho: CEO of O'Reilly Media, a pioneering force in moving publishing into the digital realm. Why: He tweets both O'Reilly-centric and general e-publishing news. Because O'Reilly has over a million followers, you probably shouldn't expect intimate conversation. Still, his perspective on the publishing industry as someone who is actively changing it is not to be missed.

Name: Guy L. GonzalezWho: Director of audience development for F+W Media.Why: Gonzalez routinely finds and shares the best ebook links, and he often stirs up conversation and controversy about the future of publishing on his outspoken Loudpoet blog.

Name: Debbie StierWho: Publisher of book imprint, HarperStudio, which publishes popular social media figures, such as Gary Vaynerchuk.Why: Stier tweets about publishing news and often shares compelling links about the future of the industry as it pertains to both publishers and authors. She also contributes to the HarperStudio blog.

Name: Mark CokerWho: Founder and CEO of the startup Smashwords.Why: His groundbreaking e-publishing platform converts Word documents to digital formats and recently partnered with Barnes & Noble and Sony. His tweets are a great source of publishing industry news and information.

Name: Don LinnWho: A former executive with Taunton Press, Linn recently attempted to launch an ebook publishing imprint, Quartet Press. Why: Although Quartet quickly fizzled out, Linn closely follows ebook developments and is always one of the first to tweet ebook developments and offer a business perspective.

Name: Hugh McGuireWho: Founder and CEO of digital startup bookoven.com, an online space to create and publish books. Why: McGuire is generally considered one to watch for new digital publishing developments, and he often tweets about publishing industry news.

You can follow all of the people on this list by going to our customized "15 Twitter Users Shaping the Future of Publishing" TweepML group.

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